Maria Mitchell

(1818 - 1889)
was taught the basics of astronomy by her father growing up in nantucket. in 1847, she discovered and mapped the orbit of a new comet and was instantly famous, receiving an award from the King of Denmark for her accomplishment. Other honours she received as a result include:

membership in the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (the first woman to be granted membership).

membership in the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

in 1865, mitchell accepted a potision at vassar college and became director of their observatory and a professor of astronomy. in 1869, mitchell was inducted into the American Philosophical Society and in 1873, mitchell founded the Association for the Advancement of Women.

In 1849 she was appointed a "computer", someone who complied astronomical data, for the United States Nautical Almanac Office, creating tables of Venus for the American Ephemeris and Nautical Almanac. During the late 1850's she travelled through Europe with Nathaniel Hawthorne and his family meeting with scientists and continuing her astronomical studies.

Maria was also a pioneer in the photography of sunspots and she was the first person to discover that sunspots were vertical cavities as opposed to being clouds, which was the prevailing theory at the time. In 1878 she led her students on a cross-country journey to Denver, Colorado, to observe and report on that years total solar eclipse. No small feat for a bunch of women in 1870's America.